News 4 New York: “Celebrating Black History” promo

As the million person protest scheduled for February 1, 2011 is starting there is chaos in the streets, and regime change in the wind. At issue again is the Internet, social networks, citizen journalists, along with the challenges of governments fighting to control angry mobs of people demanding freedom, liberty, and the ousting of what they deem “unfit to lead” leadership. And so the story goes.

Stepan Bandera is seen as a freedom fighter by Ukrainian Patriots. Pro-russian easterners want to strip Bandera of his hero status. The controversy continues to divide the country.

China has always tried to disturb India’s priorities by raising issues like issue of stapled visas to the people belonging to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, refusal of visa applications of the people belonging to state of Arunachal Pradesh, etc. With the launch of its state-run mapping website ‘Map World,’ China has again raised a cause of concern for India and Indian government. It has been reported that in this mapping website the two territorial regions of dispute between the two nations, i.e. Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin in Jammu and Kashmir, have been shown as Chinese Territory.

The news has been awash lately with the latest trial of Russian Oil Tycoon, Mikhail Khodorkovsky. This isn’t helping Russia re-shape itself as a modern, progressive state. And it isn’t helping warm the cockles of potential investors.

The other day I was having a conversation with someone at Starbucks about the entire chaos which is now occurring in Egypt in the cities of Suez, Cairo, and other areas. Apparently the protests and riots in Tunisia were viewed throughout the Muslim world on Al Jazeera. Then some bloggers got a hold of the story and told everyone in Egypt to join in a protest and march on January 25 in Cairo.

After reading a short piece online about the new trend in wedding photos for Chinese couples in their twenties – either wearing Speedos, or nude – you can’t help but smile at the cultural shift taking place every day in the world’s most populated country. The other ‘hot’ trend from China recently is dying your dog insane colors. What would Mao make of this?

Mind your own business sounds arrogant and snobbish. The element of truth underpinning the rudeness is the wisdom of sticking to one’s allocated task, role and responsibility. Crossing one’s boundary of defined role and responsibility is interference despite the necessity of justification to the interference for any right reason.

Tensions in our global society have been rising consistently over the past 40 years. This has taken a steeper curve since the 9/11 atrocity. A great deal of work, effort, emotion and enthusiasm has gone into the commitment towards maintaining peace, harmony and respect in our society since the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Centre. The rising tensions that resulted from this act of terrorism have been tackled by men and women of all faiths and persuasions. This has been done through returning to our usual routines and daily existence and re-establishing all of the usual norms of our society.

Since November of last year, heavy rainfalls hit the continent of Australia, which resulted to a massive flooding across the public roads and highways of some big cities, including Brisbane and Queensland. Until these days, rains in some parts of Australia still continue to pour. As a result, floods incessantly spread towards other places.

The British Raj was the paramount power in India till 1947, but within that ambit they allowed the local Nawabs and Maharajahs to rule. This was after the proclamation by Queen Victoria in 1858, which guaranteed the Princes and Maharajas in India their dominions, subject to the over riding clause of British suzerainty. One of the states that benefited from this policy was the state of Patiala, whose ruler Bhupinder Singh was a flamboyant ruler.